Investigators have linked a determine within the $30 million ZKasino alleged rip-off to a contemporary cryptocurrency challenge branded WhiteRock (WHITE), on-chain analyst ZachXBT reported in a June 16 put up on X.
WhiteRock surfaced in December 2024 with an nameless workforce, overstated consumer counts, and unverifiable claims a couple of USDX reserve, researchers at Blokiments wrote in a memo dated June 13.
Proof
ZachXBT added contemporary proof by discovering an influencer that obtained fee from a WhiteRock-tied pockets, which additionally aggregates deposits traceable to ZKasino’s treasury.
Separate transfers in February and March present similar quantities exiting a ZKasino pockets to an immediate change and coming into WhiteRock addresses moments later via Monero bridges.
A possible private hyperlink tightens the overlap. An tackle that deployed WhiteRock’s contracts exchanged messages with [email protected], an e-mail tied to a Chess.com account utilizing the deal with “IldarTheGrandMaster.”
Ildar Ilham, often known as “Prometheus” within the ZKasino episode, has used the alias “Goedel” throughout a number of developer channels.
ZachXBT said that the match “confirms at the least one ZKasino founder directs WhiteRock exercise.” He urged centralized venues MEXC and Gate.io to delist WHITE or carry out deeper vetting.
He argued that prior conduct in ZKasino and different tasks tied to their workforce, comparable to Syncus and Zigzag, reveals a sample of elevating capital, biking funds via privateness rails, and abandoning said roadmaps.
Courtroom dates for Ilham and two different ZKasino co-founders, Elham Nourzai and Lior Ben Zakan, haven’t but appeared on Dutch public dockets. WhiteRock’s web site lists no company entity, and challenge directors didn’t reply e-mail queries despatched by ZachXBT on Sunday.
ZKasino loss and laundering paths
ZKasino raised greater than $30 million price of Ethereum (ETH) throughout a 2024 presale, then diverted consumer belongings as an alternative of constructing the marketed playing platform.
The Dutch monetary crime company FIOD arrested the co-founder, identified on-line as “Derivatives Monke,” in April 2024 and seized associated infrastructure.
Two associates, Ilham and Lior Ben Zakan, operated from the Center East at the moment, in accordance with courtroom filings cited by ZachXBT.
Transactions tracked after Nourzai’s late 2024 launch present the stolen ETH transferring via zkSync, Starknet, Solana, and a number of EVM-compatible chains.
Pockets house owners routed funds to over-the-counter brokers, swapped tokens for Monero through immediate exchanges, and punted perpetual futures on Hyperliquid. These steps broke asset provenance whereas funneling capital towards new ventures.
